Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Alan Belcher's "Oils" at MKG127

On View...MKG127 (Michael Klein Gallery)1445 Dundas St. W., Toronto, ON

Alan Belcher is one of my favourite Toronto artists, and like many of Toronto's best artists, his work is better known elsewhere, at least institutionally. Belcher's work has a bang-on visual impact, a sense of humour, and a Pop sensibility that's at the same time well-informed by art history. His greatest strength though is the carefully orchestrated interaction between material and concept. Here the messy, heavy canvas tarpaulins that are the foundation of his "oil paintings" befit the rough rigs he paints on them, and thus they not only further the oil pun but also contribute aesthetically to the rendition of the paintings' subject matter.